Strip Me
by greylady7
Summary: Tezuka's little sister is moving back to Japan permanently. Feisty, sarcastic and complicated, has Ryoma Echizen finally met his match? With such fiery personalities involved, will sparks fly or will someone just get burned?
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: I don't own PoT but all of the OCs are completely (albeit insanely) mine.

_Tezuka's little sister is moving back to Japan permanently. Feisty, sarcastic and complicated, has Ryoma Echizen finally met his match? With such fiery personalities involved, will sparks fly or will someone just get burned? _

**PROLOGUE**

_I'm a runner. They say people run away because they want to escape. I run away. To escape? Not really. You can change your location as many times as you want but I doubt geography will make any difference. Not when what you're running away from yourself._

Airport security everywhere should be worried and I mean _really_ worried. JFK prides itself on being one of the most secure airports in the world and I'm pretty sure Narita do not parade around the fact that they let bombs pass through their airport. Okay, I did not carry a bomb all the way from NYC to Tokyo but I think the fact that I got out from the airport without arousing suspicion should really make these airports think twice about whether or not they have let any terrorists passed through. Before you get any ideas though, I'm not a terrorist. I'm just a 14 year old girl. Too bad they didn't notice.

This wig is very itchy. It's supposed to be "of superior quality" seeing as it cost me 800 bucks. Yeah well, it did look as if it's my own hair but damn you'd have thought an 800 dollar couture wig would be much more comfortable. I should've gotten my own hair cut exactly like Kyle's but the coloring would be a problem. See, I got this flaming red hair and Kyle's is light brown. I could find the exact same shade as his but it'd be useless because the red genes in my hair are so potent any other artificial coloring would only last a week, tops. And I need more than a week.

My flight arrived 30 minutes earlier than expected. I don't wanna call my brother to pick me up just yet. I need the extra half hour to compose myself and trick him into believing I'm his other sibling. _His younger brother_, in fact. Tricking airport security is easy peasy. Tricking my brother with an IQ of 183 and keen instincts is another story. It's not that I haven't done this (pretending to be my twin brother) before. I've don light brown wigs and blue contacts, wrapped my barely-there breasts in tight bind and lowered my voice countless times before. But this time it's different. Just one day though. Just one day. Then I can take off this itchy wig and act if nothing happened. After all, if there's one thing I inherited from my family, it's the ability to lie through our teeth.

-**A/N: Hi guys! This is my first ever fan fiction so I'm very sorry for the sucky summary. I'd like to know what you think though, so I hope you review I swear, the first chapter will be better so I hope you continue reading my story.**


	2. Chapter 1: Coming Home

Disclaimer: I don't own PoT. I'm not that awesome.

**CHAPTER ONE – COMING HOME**

Light brown hair? Check. Blue contacts? Check. Extremely itchy wig? Damn right it's on my head. Flat chest? Harharhar. C'mon, Kia. Get a grip. You're acting like such a girl (harharhar again, aren't I clever today? Let's see if I keep my wits until much later)!

Why am I doing this again? Most honest half-truth answer if caught: Kyle has a tournament to finish and our mother will kill him if he doesn't arrive in Japan today. Why can't I tell that to my brother and just arrive here as myself? Our mother will find out. And not because Nii-chan will blab about it.

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><p>"<em>We're moving to Japan," Kyle announced as he barged into my room.<em>

"_Whamaszatagin?" I'm not a morning person so forgive me if my brain hasn't started working yet._

"_We. Are. Moving. To. Japan. Idiot! As in permanently!" _

_If my brain wasn't working before, it sure is now. "What? Why? How d'you even know that?"_

"_Oba-san won the custody battle," explained Kyle._

"_I wasn't even aware there's one." _

"_Me either. I just heard Mom talking about it with the lawyer earlier," said Kyle. There's something different about the way he said it though. There's something else he's not telling me._

_Wow. Just wow. I can't believe it. 10 years after their divorce and only then did our father decided that he wants us? I doubt there was even a legal battle. I mean c'mon, who fights over their children 10 years later? I'm sure our dear mother happily gave us away. Just like what happened with Nii-chan. _

"_Well, Im going now. You should start packing, you know. Haha," Twin brother thinks he's so amusing. I didn't even bother to give a dignified retort as he closed the door._

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><p>The airport wasn't too crowded so I easily spotted my 16 year old brother in his school uniform and all too familiar tennis bag.<p>

"How's the flight?" he asked, without a look of suspicion on his face.

"T'was fine. Cute Stewardess," That would be the typical Kyle thing to say but the words Kia would've used would be along the lines of "terrible" and "it sucked". Oh and the stewardess was a middle aged woman. So "cute" might be a tad inappropriate.

Nii-chan only gave the faintest hint of a smile. Well, if you convert it to normal behavior, that's the equivalent of a chuckle.

Nii-chan and I walked towards the cab in comfortable silence. Both of us (by us I mean him and Kia) hate small talk but still, I need to uphold a conversation because although Kyle is not that talkative either, he sure says more words than me.

"So, how's the tennis club?" Bleurrgh tennis. Common interest for them so I guess this will keep the ball rolling.

"We're training for the prefecturals. Speaking of, I'm assuming you will try out?" replied Nii-chan.

"Assuming the team doesn't suck," Uh-oh. Wrong move you idiot! That's what Kia would say! "as Kia would say," I hastily added with a laugh hoping he doesn't notice.

Thankfully, before he could reply his phone rang. "Hello? Sensei? Alright. I'm on my way," Nii-chan quickly replied to the woman whose voice I could hear even though the phone wasn't on loud speaker.

" I need to go back to Seigaku. Urgent matter. Let's drop you off at the house first, though."

Thank God I needn't go with him. As if I need to fool more people today. The house will most likely empty and I'll get some much needed alone time.

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><p><em>You don't know how life changing a day is until in hindsight you get to think "that was the day my life changed". You never get to say "I wouldn't screw up today because this is the day my life is going to change." Because really, if people get to do that how the hell will we muster the courage to get out of our beds? <em>

_Today was one of those hindsight days I was talking about. The only difference is it's not just one day which changed my life. More like a week but it's not really measured in terms of days. More like circumstance and bad decisions on some people's parts. _

"_So, when were you planning to tell us that we, and by we, I mean myself and Kyle, are moving to the other side of the world?" I demanded from the woman in front of me. _

"_Katheline, do not be such a drama queen. You are not moving to the other side of the world," She replied with the tone she reserves when she's about to breathe fire at people. But the tone doesn't matter and neither does the fact that she called me "Katheline". My mother might be a sarcastic human being (where else will I get it from?) but she never jokes and she most certainly is not one for rhetorics._

"_What do you mean I'm not moving to the other side of the world? You seriously think we wouldn't find out? What you're going to keep it from us, say the flight is just to Philadelphia or something?" I blurted out. _

"_Haven't I just said you are not moving to Japan? How much clearer can I get? Now get out of my office I need to attend to much more pressing matters."_

_What the hell is happening? Should I believe my mother? She's a good liar but really, what's the point of lying to me about this? Or does she really mean it when she said we're not moving? Honestly, I don't know whether I should feel relieved or more worried. Clearly, the wicked witch of the east coast has something up her sleeves. I'd really rather not find out. _

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><p>My brother had left in a hurry about ten minutes ago after dropping me off at our doorstep. The house is just as I remember it, a two-storey white-washed building with low fences surrounding it. The cherry tree where I fell from when I was four was robust with pink blossoms. The scent of Bermuda grass, freshly-dug earth and home is exhilarating. The tiny playground composed of a pair of swings, a see-saw and a sandbox was still intact. It had been there for as long as I can remember and now it looks rugged and worn out the way old stuff are supposed to look like. This is the home I was supposed to grew up in but never did.<p>

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><p><strong><em>AN: I'm very sorry for the late update. I just don't want to post this without fine tuning it. Sorry it's kinda short but it felt right to cut it here because well you'll know in Chapter 2 Btw, thank you thank you thank you for everyone who read this story and most especially to those who reviewed I hope you let me know what you think ;)_**


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